The former St. Peter's Church Rectory on Fifth Avenue in Troy. (Mike McMahon / The Record)

TROY -- A 19th-century bulwark was the last delay in the sale of the former St. Peter's Church, finally derailing the property's planned purchase by a city nonprofit.

When the Fifth Avenue church came up for sale in 2011, the nearby Commission on Economic Opportunity for the Greater Capital Region, Inc., intended to purchase the church, the neighboring rectory, and the lyceum across the street for $255,000 from the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany. That purchase is no longer in the organization's near future.

The hold-up was due to a reverter clause in the deed to the original land, which has prevented the church owners, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany, from selling the property.

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On Wednesday, County Clerk Frank Merola opened the massive tome containing copies of early land records from the period. He pointed to a legal script written in 1833, deeding the plot of land whereon St. Peter's and the other properties now stand.

The land was originally donated by several prominent couples to the parish's founders, who led a congregation of recent Irish immigrants who had been worshiping in an old school house on Ferry Street since 1824. They bought the land for six cents -- a pittance, even at the time, but unsurprising given the act was philanthropic.

Those couples were Abraham G. and Susanna Lansing, Thomas W. and Renata M. Ford, John and Mary Willard, Lois and Stephen Ross, and John D. and Ann Eliza Dickinson.

That goodwill did not extend into idealism, however, as the families' guaranteed their philanthropy through a clause that would revert the property to themselves or their heirs if it were to be used for "any other use or purpose other than for a meeting house or meeting houses for Religious public worship." They also mandated that the structure or structures to be built contain a steeple and bell.

Such a clause was likely used to keep the grantees from taking advantage of the families' goodwill, said Merola. Measures such as the clause tend to show up in transactions concerning city property, he added, indicating that clauses concerning properties like St. Peter's are much more rare.

As the once dense city population began fleeing the city for the suburbia, congregations suffered, leaving church leaders offering sermons to flocks that were shadows of their former selves. In 2009, the Albany Diocese began a mass consolidation, closing 33 worship sites throughout its 14 counties. The last Mass at St. Peter's was held in May of 2009, the day after the last Mass at the former St. Paul the Apostle, on Twelfth Street.

This left the diocese with three buildings totaling more than 28,000 square-feet, all of which it does not need and has been attempting to divest. CEO, which already owns one building once associated with St. Peter's, a former nunnery, 2331 Fifth Ave., where they are now headquartered,seemed a likely candidate. The former parochial school, St. Peter's Academy, across the street is owned by Catholic Charities and houses CEO programming. The nonprofit provides workforce training and childcare, among other services, to help low-income families become self-sufficient.

In the effort to sell the property to CEO, the diocese filed a motion in state Supreme Court in Rensselaer County last July. The motion, brought before Judge Henry F. Zwack, was served via publication, because the heirs either could not be found or because there are too many. As of Dec. 21, the case had not moved forward.

"They probably filed it in July and kept asking for adjournments for return date as they try to find these people," said Rensselaer County Court Clerk Richard Reilly.

Ken Goldfarb, a spokesperson for the diocese, said he could not indicate the current status of the search, but said the process of selling the property was ongoing.

"The search for the heirs was the last delay, and has still not been resolved," said Maciol. "At this point, we just decided it wasn't a good choice for us."

Maciol said the buildings are in quite a state of disrepair, and the organization cannot currently sustain the costs of repair, largely due to the possibility of government funding cuts.

"We're just not certain about it right now," said Maciol, but she noted that "at some point in the future, we could return to the property."

Editor's note: An earlier version for this article stated that CEO owns both the former nunnery and St. Peter's Academy buildings. Some of CEO's programming is housed in the former parochail school.